On The Road to Miami

Published January 8th, 2009

This bus will head south on campus, but this bus is heading to South Florida and the BCS Championship. The 8 a.m. charter bus is taking more than a dozen Gator fans to Miami. And what better way to travel then on a bus...with a seminole on it?

"I was coming down and I saw a huge Florida State logo on the back of the bus and i was confused," said UF student Qadeer Rehman. "I was like I'm pretty sure Florida State's not going to the national championship, we are. But I came and they were like it's the right bus. That's the only bus they had available."

Not even a Seminole sighting was enough to wake up some groggy Gators.

"I'm really tired right now, cause I never wake up this early," said UF sophomore Amanda Milligan. "My first class is usually 11:45, but I'm psyched to be going to the game. So I'm very excited, I'm trying to wake myself up."

Even the bus driver, a self-proclaimed early riser, had trouble getting out of bed.

"I was just sitting on the side of the bed and I laid back down for a few minutes," said bus driver Arago Welch. "At about a quarter to six I said I better get out of here."

UF junior Eric King made sure not to snooze on this early wake up call. He won the lottery, the ticket lottery for one of only 1500 student seats.

"I thought I had no chance honestly cause I entered the SEC lottery, didn't win that," said King. "I figured I might as well enter it just to enter it, and then I got an email. It didn't even say congratulations. It just said lottery winner."

For these fans the six hour ride couldn't start soon enough.

"It's been building up, but now it's like more nerve-wracking now. I can't wait until we take off," said Rehman.